2016 Budget: Chancellor's deficit target to be examined by IFS

Chancellor George Osborne’s plan to clear the UK’s deficit by 2019/20 is to be examined by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

Mr Osborne has stated that economic forecasts suggest that his target will be achievable, despite his warning of a ‘dangerous cocktail of risks’.

However, in response to the Budget speech, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn proclaimed that the Chancellor has ‘failed on the budget deficit’.

The IFS has predicted that the Chancellor has a 50% chance of succeeding in his plans to deliver a £10 billion surplus on public finances by 2020.

The Institute’s announcement of a review of Mr Osborne’s deficit plan comes after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) revealed that it expects the UK economy to grow at a significantly slower rate over the next five years than previously anticipated.

Productivity growth has been revised downwards, with the OBR predicting that the economy will grow by a rate of 2.0% this year - down from a predicted figure of 2.4%.